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Halloween
" " is the sixth episode of the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show, and the eighteenth episode in the series. Written by Joss Whedon and Carl Ellsworth, and directed by Bruce Seth Green, it originally broadcast on October 27, 1997 on The WB. Synopsis TRICK OR TREAT — Buffy, Willow and Xander are recruited by Principal Snyder to trick-or-treat with the neighborhood kids, but the night doesn't turn out as they had planned when Buffy's costume causes her to lose her slaying ability and the other kids transform into their costume characters. Meanwhile, when Giles begins to paste together the night's events, he learns that it's his past that is making this a very haunted Halloween."The Mortuary". Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Archived from the original June 9, 2001. Summary Buffy and Angel finally agree to a date, but Buffy is delayed at Pop's Pumpkin Patch by a vampire. Another vampire films the fracas from the shadows. While Angel waits at the Bronze, Cordelia shows up. When Buffy finally arrives, she is turned away by Cordelia's sharp tongue. Cordelia continues to hit on Angel, unaware of his history. The next day, Principal Snyder forces Buffy, Willow, and Xander into chaperoning children while they trick-or-treat. Buffy would rather take a break as, contrary to expectations, on Halloween vampires and demons take the night off. Later, Larry, the school bully, threatens Xander while asking him about Buffy, who intervenes smashing Larry into a soda machine. However, instead of being grateful to Buffy for rescuing him, Xander is upset by the damage that does to his reputation. To dress up for Halloween, the gang head to Ethan's Costume Shop, where Willow gets a ghost costume and Xander buys a toy gun to go with his army fatigues from home. Buffy and Xander apologize to each other about what happened with Larry. Then Buffy finds a beautiful 18th-century pink dress — one that matches what she has spied from Giles's Watcher files on Angel. Ethan Rayne appears and makes her an offer she cannot refuse. Spike is reviewing Buffy's recorded fight when Drusilla comes to tell him that someone will make Buffy weak the following night. Spike is confused, since the following night is Halloween when nothing happens, but Drusilla tells him someone new has arrived in town. Meanwhile, Ethan is chanting to a Janus' statue in the back room of his shop. On Halloween night, Buffy manages to convince Willow to wear a black mini-skirt and a long-sleeved crop shirt, making her very shy. The doorbell rings and Willow takes the opportunity to cover her outfit with the ghost costume before Xander sees it. While taking the children trick-or-treating, people start turning into their costumes' personae: Willow collapses and then she becomes a real ghost (wearing the skimpy outfit), Xander a soldier, and Buffy an 18th-century girl. Willow convinces Xander, who has no recollection of her, to not shoot the transformed people in the street with his now real gun. They find a disoriented Buffy, who is frightened and confused by the modern world. Willow rushes them to Buffy's house, where her mother is conveniently not home. Outside, Cordelia screams and Xander rushes out to save her. Willow goes to Giles for help. While Cordelia searches the house, Angel shows up and takes Buffy into the kitchen. As Angel tries to handle a vampire that has sneaked into the house, he reveals his vampire face. Buffy is horrified and runs from the house. Meanwhile, Spike has also appeared and revels in the chaos around him. At the library, Willow and Giles realize Cordelia has not changed into a cat, like the costume she is wearing, having rented her costume from a different shop from Ethan's. They head to the shop, where Ethan greets Giles by the nickname "Ripper". He orders Willow to leave then physically persuades Ethan to tell him how to reverse the spell. Spike is looking for Buffy, who enters an alley and meets Larry, now a pirate. Xander arrives to beat up Larry while Willow shows up to warn them of Spike. The gang tries to barricade themselves inside a warehouse, but Spike's gang breaks in. Just as Spike is about to kill Buffy, Ethan reveals the secret to ending the spell and Giles throws the statue to the floor, smashing it to pieces, breaking the spell. Buffy recovers in time to defeat Spike and he flees. Willow wakes up on the porch where she "died", now wearing the ghost costume again. She takes off the ghost costume and confidently walks across the street in her risky outfit. Unbeknownst to Willow, Oz drives by at that moment and admires her from his van. In her bedroom, Buffy confesses to Angel that she was trying to impress him; much to her surprise, he tells her that he hated those people back then — especially the noble women. Angel also reveals that he wanted someone exciting. They kiss. The next day, Giles returns to the store to find a note: Ethan has promised to return soon. Continuity *Despite having interacted with Angel regularly since "Prophecy Girl", Cordelia doesn't believe Buffy when she tells her. She eventually realizes it off-screen, mentioning his vampiric nature in "City Of". *While Willow and Buffy are looking up facts about Angel, they come over a drawing of a woman, dated 1775, and Willow states that "Angel was 18 and still human," while on many other occasions, it was stated that Angel was born in 1727, and turned in 1753, making him 26 years old when he became a vampire, so he was no longer human in 1775. They could have meant 1745, when Angel would have been 18 (and human) and the clothing styles were similar to the picture then. *Xander's soldier experience and military knowledge from this episode is referenced several times in the future, most notably in "Innocence", "Graduation Day, Part Two", and Revelations. *This episode marks the first appearance of Ethan Rayne in the series, who will show up as a minor antagonist at several points in the future. *This is the first hint at Giles's past, more of which is explained in "The Dark Age". *The two faced statue, Janus, used by Ethan Rayne in this episode, is later seen in "Tabula Rasa" behind Giles when he finds his airline ticket in his pocket, as well as in "Dead Things" on a shelf next to the cash register. *Upon seeing Willow again, Oz remarks "Who is that girl?" which is exactly what he said on his first sighting of Willow, in "Inca Mummy Girl". They unknowingly interact with each other in this episode, but will only properly meet in "What's My Line? Part One". *This episode marks the first appearance of Larry. *Willow states that Angel would never fall for someone like Cordelia. This turns out to be false, as Angel and Cordelia not only become close friends but eventually fall in love in Angel series. *This episode establishes Halloween as traditionally a quiet night for undead activity, as in future episodes "Fear, Itself" and "All the Way". *In this episode, Xander tells Snyder that one day he will tell him exactly what he thinks of him. This will occur in "Restless", although it is arguably imaginary. Appearances Individuals *Angel *Larry Blaisdell *Cordelia Chase *Mrs. Davis *Drusilla *Rupert Giles *Alexander Harris *Devon MacLeish *Daniel Osbourne *Mrs. Parker *Ethan Rayne *Willow Rosenberg *Snyder *Spike *Buffy Summers *Liam's father *Liam's mother *Unidentified vampire (Halloween) Organizations and titles *Dingoes Ate My Baby *Scooby Gang *Slayer *Watcher Species *Demon *Ghost *Human *Vampire Events *Halloween Locations *Sunnydale **1630 Revello Drive **Bric & Broc **Bronze **Ethan's Costume Shop **Party Town **Pop's Pumpkin Patch **Shelter Club **Sunnydale High School ***Sunnydale High School library Weapons and objects *Janus' statue *Miss Edith *Oz's zebra-striped van *Stake *Watchers Diaries Rituals and spells *Ritual of Janus Death count *One vampire, staked by Buffy Summers. *Willow Rosenberg, suffocated to death in order to become a ghost during Ethan Rayne's spell. Reversed when Giles breaks the spell. Behind the scenes Production *Costume designer Cynthia Bergstrom picked Buffy's Halloween costume as her favorite piece of the series."Halloween chic". BBC. Retrieved October 8, 2019. *The costume Willow wears is described as "Hot Rocker Chick" in the script which is read by the network's censors. Broadcast *"Halloween" pulled in an audience of 3.7 million households on its original airing."Nielsen Ratings for Buffy's Second Season" *Willow's line, "Wild on me equals spaz" was cut when the episode was shown on the BBC because, in the UK, "spaz" is an offensive term often used to describe a handicapped or disabled person. Pop culture references *There is a black and white oval sticker with the letters "WP" on it. The letters stand for the southern jam/rock band, Widespread Panic. It can be seen in a number of places in this episode; on Oz's locker door (near Cordelia when she's dressed as a cat and talking to Oz), on a bulletin board (on Willow's right when she walks into the library as a ghost), on the bathroom wall (behind Buffy's right shoulder when she and Willow are looking at the book). The same sticker appears in a number of episodes; "Inca Mummy Girl", "Bad Eggs", "Surprise", "Phases", "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", "Becoming, Part Two", "Dead Man's Party", "A New Man", "Wild at Heart", "The Yoko Factor", and "The Replacement". *Willow muses: "She couldn't have dressed up as Xena?", in reference to the title character from Xena: Warrior Princess series. *Ethan Rayne paraphrases the line from The Godfather, "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse" when he tells Buffy, "I feel quite moved to make you a deal you can't refuse." *Buffy says to Giles: "Well, she said that you were a… hunk of burning… something or other." "Hunka hunka burning love" was the chorus of "Burning Love", the Dennis Linde composition that was a hit for Elvis Presley in 1972 (the King's last top ten hit, actually), among others. *Cordelia says: "Like a Care Bear with fangs?" The Care Bears were a series of collectible teddy bears introduced by Hasbro in the 1980's and quickly spun off into a huge entertainment empire including clothing, comic books, and cartoons. The Care Bears were supposed to represent all that was good and pure and fluffy and saccharine in the world. *Cordelia: "I was just attacked by Jo-Jo, the Dog-Faced Boy." Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy was one of the many "curiosities" exhibited by showman P.T. Barnum (1810–1891). *Xander tells Cordy: "Catwoman, you're with me," in reference to the fictional character. *The card that Giles finds in Ethan's shop at the end says "Be seeing you," which was a catchphrase used in the 1967 British TV series The Prisoner, which was about a retired secret agent who is kidnapped and imprisoned in a bucolic but mysterious village. Despite its outwardly friendly nature, the phrase's consistent use by the agent's captors gave it a distinctly sinister tone. Goofs, bloopers & continuity errors *Willow and Buffy state that the name of the woman in the drawing isn't given in the book, but it is clearly labeled "Sarah Goodfriend". *The front door of Buffy's house has its hinges on the right side of the door (when viewed from the inside). In every other episode, they're on the left side. *Despite not being corporeal as a ghost, as Willow leaves the costume shop you see her brush against a curtain. Also, when she leaves, you clearly hear the door close behind her when in other scenes, she simply walks right through doors, walls, etc. *The vampire that attacked Buffy and Angel in Buffy's house was never invited in. It's possible this was just a person that changed into a vampire due to Ethan's spell, and normal vampire rules may not apply. Music *Epperley — "Shy" (Plays at the Bronze at the beginning of the episode.) *Treble Charger — "How She Died" (Plays when Oz spots Willow and wonders who she is.) *Christophe Beck — original score International titles *'Armenian:' "Հելլոուին" (Halloween) *'Czech:' "Halloween" *'Finnish:' "Halloween" *'French:' "Halloween" *'German:' "Die Nacht der Verwandlung" (The Night of Transformation) *'Hungarian:' "Halloween" *'Italian:' "Halloween" *'Japanese:' "ハロウィーン" (Halloween) *'Polish:' "Wigilia Wszystkich Świętych" (All Saints' Eve) *'Portuguese (Brazil):' "Doce ou Travessura?" (Trick or Treat?) *'Romanian:' "Halloween" *'Russian:' "Хэллоуин" (Halloween) *'Spanish (Latin America):' "Halloween" *'Spanish (Spain):' "Noche de Brujas" (Halloween Night) Adaptations *The anthology "The Angel Chronicles, Volume 2" as well as the English language teaching reader "Halloween" both include novelizations of this episode. *The episode script was included in "The Script Book: Season Two, Volume 1". *Two ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' action figures of Willow and one of Xander were produced based on their appearances in this episode, as well as a Deluxe action figure based on Willow with her Halloween outfit. *A illustration of the scene of the Scoobies trick-or-treating was included in the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Adult Coloring Book". *The comic issue Buffy the Vampire Slayer #8 has a tribute variant cover to this episode. Other *The episode was included in the DVD collection Curse of the Hellmouth. Gallery Promotional stills Halloween Buffy Willow 01.jpg Halloween Buffy Willow 02.jpg Halloween Willow 01.jpg Halloween Willow 02.jpg Halloween Buffy.jpg Halloween Buffy Xander.jpg Behind the scenes Halloween Carpenter Brendon.jpg Halloween Bagby Green Brendon.jpg Advertisement B-promo3.jpg|"The Halloween episode" Quotes References de:Die Nacht der Verwandlung es:Halloween fr:Halloween nl:Halloween Category:Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes Category:Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 2